Antigone
Scene 2 & Ode 2
Scene 3 & Ode 3
1. Who has the sentry captured and
brought before King Creon?
Antigone, the King’s niece
2. How did the guards manage to
capture Antigone?
The sentries had gone back to
Polynices’ buried body and removed
the dirt, thereby unburying it. They
then sat back to watch who would
come to bury it again.
3. How did Antigone react to being
captured by the sentries?
Antigone did not resist, but went with
the sentries willingly.
4. What reason does Antigone give
for defying Creon’s decree?
Antigone believes that the laws of
God concerning the burial of the dead
are more important than any of man’s
laws, including Creon’s.
5. Who else does Creon have
arrested in connection with the
crime of burying Polynices?
He arrests Antigone’s sister, Ismene,
in connection with the crime.
6. Why is Antigone angry with
Ismene?
Ismene wants to share in Antigone’s
guilt and punishment for burying
Polynices, yet she had refused to help
her sister bury their brother.
7. Besides being Antigone’s uncle,
how else were Creon and Antigone
related?
Antigone was engaged to marry
Creon’s son, Haimon.
8. What is to be Antigone’s punishment
for burying her brother?
Antigone will be put to death.
9. According to Ode 2, who is the
fortunate man?
The fortunate man is one “who has
never tasted God’s vengeance.”
10. Who is the god who must not be
made angry, according to Ode 2?
Zeus must not be made angry or
those who do will suffer his wrath.
1. What is Haimon’s initial
response when his father asks how
he feels about the king’s decision
to execute Antigone?
Haimon says that he supports and
obeys his father’s decisions.
2. What does Creon say that men
pray for?
Creon says that men pray for sons
who are attentive and dutiful to their
fathers.
3. Why is Creon intent on harshly
punishing, even family members, all
those who break the law?
Creon believes that his people will not
obey or have respect for him if he is
lenient with family members.
4. What does Haimon claim is
God’s crowning gift to man?
Haimon claims that the ability to
reason is God’s crowning gift to man.
5. What does Haimon tell King
Creon about the people of Thebes’
allegiance to him?
Haimon tells his father that the people
only obey him out of fear and that
they will say whatever he wants to
hear.
6. Whose point, King Creon’s or
Haimon’s , does the Choragos
support?
The Choragos claims that both speak
well. It is an effort to seek
compromise.
7. How does the city feel about
Antigone’s crime?
Haimon claims that the city of Thebes
does not view Antigone as a criminal.
8. While Creon is ranting at his son,
what does the king threaten to do?
Creon threatens to execute Antigone,
Haimon’s fiancee, in front of him.
9. Describe Creon’s death sentence
for Antigone.
Creon will have Antigone locked in a
stone vault out in the wilderness. She
will be given some provisions of food,
and if she is able to escape, then it
will be because her gods took pity on
her.
10. According to Ode 3, what is it
that “even the pure Immortals
cannot escape”?
“Even the pure Immortals cannot
escape” love.